UNEP

This partnership is part of the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership
(in the framework of UNEP-Mercury Programme)

At the beginning of 2005 the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) urged (in Decision 23/9 IV, mercury programme), governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector to develop and implement partnerships as one approach to reducing the risks to human health and the environment from the release of mercury and its compounds improving global understanding of international mercury emission sources, fate and transport.

In this context, a discussion paper “Global Partnership for Mercury Air Transport and Fate Research” prepared by the U.S. EPA in October 2005 listed some proposed goals, objectives and initial action for a partnership.

At the beginning of 2006, Italy offered to lead the UNEP – Partnership for Mercury Air Transport and Fate Research (UNEP-MFTP) in close cooperation with other interested partners.

At today Italy, USA, Canada, Japan, South Africa and other countries are part of the UNEP-MFTP. The specific objectives of the UNEP-MFTP are to support the decisions of the Governing Council and specifically the activity of the Overarching Partnership for the Global Mercury Partnership by:

Enhancing compilation and sharing of such information among scientists, between scientists and policymakers and with various global stakeholders and other interested parties;

Providing technical assistance and training, where possible, to support the development of critical information;

Enhancing the development of a globally-coordinated mercury observation system to monitor the concentrations of mercury species into the air and water ecosystems in cooperation with the GEO Task HE-09-02d “Global Observation Network for Mercury” as part of GEOSS 2012-2015 work plan.

Enhancing the exchange of information and cooperation with the Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollutants (TF HTAP) of the UNECE-LRTAP Convention as well as with relevant International Organizations and Programmes.

At present, considering the importance of an integrated evaluation of mercury impacts on the whole environment, the scope of the Partnership’s research activities is being extended to include aquatic transport and fate of methylmercury to biota as well as human exposure.

The present website is aimed to share information within the partnership and provide up to date information to policy makers and stakeholders.

Specific Contribution

Contribution from Italy

Italy is leading the UNEP F&T in cooperation with Canada, Japan, Slovenia, South Africa, China, USA and UNEP. The work plan of the Partnership along with a description of the progress made, the specific contributions of the partners and products of the Partnership are reported in detail on the Partnership’s web site. Italy will continue to maintain and update the web site.

The Italian contribution to the Partnership is related to different aspects of atmospheric mercury emissions, transport and transformations on regional and global scales. Activities are carried out in the Mediterranean region, in China and in Polar regions as well as in leading GMOS. The specific projects and programs leaded by Italy in 2009-2011 and planned for the following two years are briefly reported below.

GMOS: Global Mercury Observation System, funded by EC as part of EC FP7 – Italy leads GMOS which involves 24 partners from all over the world and cooperate with on-going programs in USA, Canada, China, Japan. GMOS is aimed to merge ground-based networks, oceanographic programs and tropospheric programs. More is available at http://www.gmos.eu

UNECE-HTAP Task Force, WG on Hg: Italy is Leading the Working Group on Mercury. The major goals of this WG was to perform a modeling intercomparison for assessing the effectiveness of emission reduction measures and an assessment of the relative contribution of natural vs. anthropogenic sources on hemispheric and global scales. Results have been published in the TF HTAP Report, Part B: Mercury, published in 2010 and submitted to the Steering Body of EMEP/UNECE-LRTAP (http://www.htap.org)

Polar research program: As part of the Italian Polar Research Programme (PNRA) Italy will perform (2012-2014) an intensive campaigns in Ny-Alesund on the Svalbard Islands at the Italian research site and at DOME-C in Antarctica (Italian-French bi-lateral program). The aim of this project is to investigate on mercury depletion mechanisms that affect the transfer of mercury from the atmosphere to surface snow in both polar areas.

Contribution from USA

U.S. Partners (to date):
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)(Facilitator),
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI),
Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI).

USEPA will share speciated measurements of atmospheric mercury (elemental mercury, Hg); reactive gaseous mercury, RGM; and particulate mercury, HGP) together with particulate matter and other criteria pollutants for years 2002- 2009 , taken at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s high altitude station at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. (More recent data might also be made available in the future.) To this end, a notice of availability has been posted on the UNEP web site (www.unep.org) as well as the Transport and Fate Research Partnership website which directs interested parties to prepare a short letter of interest in these data and willingness to collaborate with EPA and the Partnership. Potential uses of these data include:

further atmospheric process research by elucidating high altitude processes impacting mercury transformation and fate;

link with other data from other global baseline mercury measurement stations

help accumulate a long-term record of mercury species;

support model development and evaluation.

USEPA will share a modeling methodology, now being developed by Harvard University under contract to USEPA, that relates global emission inventories to changes in fish concentrations in various marine regions of the world. The methodology links emissions to exposure by integrating a global transport model, an ocean model and a fish model. The methodology is being developed in the context of the Pacific Ocean sector but can be modified for use in other sectors and is expected to be published in 2013.

USEPA will participate in additional monitoring, source receptor modeling and training activities as circumstances and resources permit, participate in various meetings among Global Partnership partners that would be facilitated by Italy (the lead country) and contribute to various reports under the Partnership. At Italy’s request, USEPA will arrange teleconferences among Global Partners.

NOAA will 1/share its monitoring data, through a web link to be placed on the Partnership website, for three new long-term mercury monitoring stations within the U.S. that will measure ambient concentrations of mercury species as well as other pollutants, e.g., SOx and PM, as well as mercury deposition 2/ continue to provide worldwide meteorological data through the READY web-based information system and various models for computing atmospheric trajectories and dispersion, including HYSPLIT and 3/ participate in additional monitoring, modeling and training activities, including technical advice to other countries on developing a mercury monitoring strategy.

USDOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will 1/ share atmospheric monitoring data it has collected within the U.S. and information about sampling and monitoring methodologies. 2/ continue its mercury work in China, developing and, after consultation with Chinese collaborators, sharing project information as deemed appropriate. As part of the latter project, NETL will maintain its ongoing partnership with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Zhejiang University, which includes developing mercury emission factors for estimating emissions from coal-fired plants. To this end, speciated measurements have been taken at a sample of Chinese plants having different technologies. The dialogue with the Italian-led Suzhou project will be continued.

The USGS will share its World Coal Quality Inventory (Tewalt et al., 2010; http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2010/1196/) a database of 1.580 samples of mercury (and other) contaminant concentrations from more than 57 country collaborators as well as data for more than 7,400 samples of US coal. USGS data were used to develop DOE’s mercury emissions inventory for China (Streets et al., 2005). These data may be useful in combination with the International Energy Agency (IEA) Clean Coal Center’s Coal Power database

EPRI will expand its atmospheric mercury measurement program to better understand transboundary transport through continued support of high altitude ground-based monitoring (Mt Bachelor, Oregon) and Aircraft soundings, including an investigation of in-cloud processing of mercury in marine and continental environments. EPRI will continue its mercury global and regional modeling, using the “one atmosphere” models as well as studies on mechanisms. EPRI will also continue work on background mercury fluxes, including work at various impacted and natural sites and undertaking aircraft measurements to elucidate natural sources of emissions, e.g., volcanoes and wildfires. Finally, EPRI will continue its support for the Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) data analysis, data quality, data interpretation and data measurement programs and will investigate further initiation of a background site in California. Results will be shared with the Partnership by posting reports at www.epri.com.

BRI will contribute its North American Hg database and use it as a Platform for compiling a global Hg database using existing and available published and unpublished datasets (www.briloon.org). These data will identify both global biological Hg hotspots and data gaps., BRI conducts ecological Hg assessments across the western hemisphere to determine exposure and effects of Hg on biota; when sources can be identified emissions and effluents can thereafter be managed and conceivably economized in cases where there is governmental oversight using existing regulations. BRI contributes to multiple networks within the western hemisphere, including oversight with regional North American workshops and long-term monitoring programs such as the TERRA Network. BRI is contributing to the formation of the national mercury monitoring network (MercNet), which is proposed to be the comprehensive and standardized program for monitoring spatial gradients and temporal trends of Hg in the United States, is a potential tool for policy makers to monitor the success of national Hg emission reductions. Such a monitoring template may be useful globally.

C-MERC (Coastal and Marine Mercury Ecosystem Research Collaborative) sponsored by the Dartmouth Superfund Research Program brought together experts in marine mercury research and policy stakeholders to collaborate on a series of scientific papers on fate, cycling and uptake of mercury in ocean systems and human exposure to mercury world-wide and to identify the science needed to inform policy. Over 70 authors contributed to eleven peer-reviewed papers: nine published in a special issue of the journal Environmental Research which provide a synthesis of the science on pathways of mercury from sources to the seafood in specific marine ecosystems; two additional papers on the health effects of methylmercury were published in Environmental Health Perspectives. Sources to Seafood: Mercury Pollution in the Marine Environment, a companion report synthesizing the C-MERC papers for policy maker was published in December 2012. Over 300 copies of the report were distributed at the 5th session of the United Nations International Negotiating Committee on a global, legally binding Agreement on mercury in Geneva Switzerland in January 2013. The report will also be made available at the ICMGP 2013 meeting in Scotland.

Several sites across Canada have been measuring total gaseous mercury (TGM) since 1997. The data are publicly available in Environment Canada’s NAtChem database. The standard operating procedure (SOP) is available upon request and has been used throughout Canada, the US and in Europe. A paper was published (Steffen, A., Scherz, T., Olson, M.L., Gay, D.A. and Blanchard, P., 2012, A comparison of data quality control protocols for atmospheric mercury speciation measurements Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 14:752-765) describing the QC methods employed by Environment Canada and the NADP (USA) and provides an in depth comparison of the 2 programs. The results show that the 2 methods of data treatment are comparable in most conditions. A quality control (QC) procedure and a QC software package for measurements within this Network have been developed and can be shared. Atmospheric speciation measurements are being made with the Tekran 1130/1135 speciation system in research mode at several sites. An SOP and QC protocol have been developed and can be made available on request. Canada has two “external” sites within the US AMNet dry deposition network.

Several ongoing research programs in Canada make continuous atmospheric mercury speciation measurements. Trend analysis of some of this work have been published and some will be included in the Canadian Mercury Science Assessment.

The level of mercury in precipitation is determined at sites across Canada as part of the Mercury Deposition Network (MDN). The data are publicly available on the MDN website. Canada conducts mercury processes research aimed at understanding environmental pathways by which mercury is cycled in the environment.

Canada works internationally through agreements such as the NAFTA CEC North American Regional Action Plan (NARAP) on mercury, New England Governors/Eastern Canadian Premiers (NEG/ECP) action plan on mercury, Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy and the Arctic Council Action Plan on Mercury and contributes to the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program and the United Nations Environment Program.

Canada co-authored the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) assessment of mercury (2011). The full version of this document was released at the International Polar Year (IPY) conference held in Montreal in April 2012. This document reports on the advances in knowledge made since 2002 on mercury depletion events and their contribution to elevated levels of mercury in the arctic environment. During the 2007-2008 International Polar Year (IPY) Canada investigated the transport, cycling and deposition of mercury to the polar environment and collaborated with American, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese researchers on the transpacific transport of mercury from Asia. Canada maintains its collaboration with China on the transport of mercury emissions from Asia.

Canada has developed the global/regional atmospheric heavy metals model (GRAHM) for the distribution of atmospheric mercury. Using this model, source-receptor relationships were developed to estimate the intercontinental transport of mercury to various regions. Canada participated in two model intercomparison studies (one EMEP study led by MSC-E and one North American study led by US-EPA). Canada is participating in developing the work plan of the use of the multi-model approach in support of the UN-ECE LRTAP task force on hemispheric transport of pollutants. Canada contributed to the interim report (mid 2007) and the final assessment report of the evidence for intercontinental transport (2009). GRAHM will be participating in the model evaluation and intercomparison study for mercury.

Canada produced the Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment (CACAR) III report describing the most up to date scientific research on mercury undertaken in the Canadian Arctic. This was done through Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC), Environment Canada, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Health Canada and various university researchers (Atmospheric Mercury, in: Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment Report III: Mercury in Canada’s North., edited by: Braune, B., and Chetelat, J., Northern Contaminants Program (NCP), Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, Ottawa, 276 pp., 2012.)

Through the Commission for Environmental Co-operation, Canada provided instrumentation and training to measure GEM concentrations at various sites in Mexico, aided the implementation of 2 MDN sites in Mexico and is assisting Mexico to seek funding to continue and expand these programs (with USA).

Canada hosted and was the largest sponsor of the 10th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant from July 24th-29th, 2011 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Canada is a partner in the Western Mercury Synthesis report. This report will be a collection of peer reviewed papers synthesizing all the mercury research that occurs in western Canada, USA and Mexico. It is anticipated that this product will be available as a special issue in a journal by 2015 or 2016. Canada was a partner in the Coastal and Marine Mercury Ecosystem Research Collaborative. A series of peer reviewed publications synthesizing the processes elated to inputs, cycling and uptake of mercury in marine ecosystems. Canada was charged with coordinating the Arctic Ocean paper and was published as: Kirk, J. L., Lehnherr, I., Andersson, M., Braune, B., Chan, L., Dastoor, A., Durnford, D., Gleason, A. L., Loseto, L. L., Steffen, A., and St Louis, V. L.: Mercury in Arctic marine ecosystems: Sources, paths and exposure, Environmental Research, 119, 64-87, 10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.012, 2012.

Canada is compiling its first national picture on mercury research entitled the Canadian Mercury Science Assessment to be produced 2013-2014. The Assessment will be the first comprehensive national description of mercury in the Canadian environment. The assessment is intended to in form decision-making by policy-makers and research managers and establish a baseline against which future changes in mercury levels in the environment can be attributed to changes in mercury emissions and climate.

Mercury is included in the integrated monitoring plan for the oilsands which has been developed by the Minister of the Environment in collaboration with the province of Alberta.

Canada is an external partner and a member of the scientific advisory board for the Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) that is being developed to monitor the effectiveness of implementation of regulations for the global reduction of mercury emissions.

Contribution from Japan

Monitoring Project for Ambient Atmospheric Mercury and Other Heavy Metals in Remote Background Areas – Japan started a monitoring program that will provide background air monitoring data of mercury and other heavy metals to contribute to the understanding of their atmospheric long-range transport. For this purpose, the Ministry of the Environment started a pilot project at the Cape Hedo Atmosphere and Aerosol Monitoring Station in Okinawa, in February 2007. The objectives of the pilot project are to:

Monitor current levels of toxic trace elements, including mercury, in air, particles, and precipitation;

Obtain useful information on the long-range transportation of trace elements in Asia-Pacific region;

Develop monitoring methodologies and measurement items;

Contribute to the international efforts in ambient atmospheric monitoring.

Airborne particles are collected on a polytetrafluoroethylene filter using a low-volume sampler. Toxic trace elements including Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, As, Cr, V, Ni, ,etc…, in particles are analyzed with the inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP/MS) once a week.

Precipitation samples are collected using an automatic wet-only sampler, and toxic trace elements are measured once a month. Toxic trace elements and their analytical methods are the same as those of particulates.

Modeling fate of mercury species in multimedia environment:

Long-range transport of mercury species has been simulated by a number of atmospheric transport and chemistry modeling frameworks. Although atmospheric transport and resultant deposition are believed to be the major source of entry into surface environment, inter-media processes between air and surface media including water, soil and others may not necessarily be described in existing modeling frameworks sufficiently. National Institute for Environmental Studies has developed a multimedia-modeling framework to assess the inter-media transport of mercury species through media-boundaries based on the multimedia-modeling framework for organic chemicals, which mainly focuses on the inter-media transport of media boundaries explicitly. By combining existing chemical/transport atmospheric modeling experiences to the inter-media transport simulation, more comprehensive fate modeling including both air and terrestrial/aquatic environment would be possible for more integrated assessment purposes.

The objective of the pilot project is to:

develop inter-media transport scheme and process descriptions for mercury species by expanding the multimedia modeling frameworks from the monitoring outputs.

Methods: Multimedia fate model G-CIEMS is used as the basis of the study, which is now under POP model inter-comparison study by MSC-E/EMEP. Hg(0), RGM (Hg2+), Particulate and MeHg are the first set of target chemicals for the study.

Results of the existing and current new monitoring information (e.g. Shizuoka site) are to be used to the monitoring and modeling analysis efforts.

After box-model study of multimedia processes, integration to the atmospheric chemistry and transport scheme will be explored for the final goal of the project.

Contribution from Slovenia

Slovenia has compiled a report for the contribution of contaminated sites to the global mercury cycle. A workshop was organized in October 2010 to address this issue from a global perspective. Synthesis papers are in prepration and will be distributed at the INC 3 meeting.

In May 2011 Slovenia in collaboration with COST, GMOS and GEOTRACES will organize a workshop on mercury analysis and speciation in seawater. This workshop will address the issue of comparability of data for mercury analysis and speciation in marine waters, develop common protocols, set the rational for speciation and determination of flux measurements.

In 2011 a new EMRP project will start (in collaboration with EU partners) on setting the metrology support for mercury measurements in the environment.

Contribution from South Africa

A South African Mercury Assessment Programme (SAMA) was established during 2006 to serve as the principal programme through which mercury research in South Africa is co-coordinated. Its are: to co-ordinate and facilitate high-quality research relating to Hg pollution in South Africa; to develop and execute a co-coordinated plan to achieve this, based on partnerships; and to provide opportunities for collaboration and training for Young scientists.

More information can be obtained at: www.waternet.co.za/sama. To date, partners of the SAMA Programme focused on different aspects of mercury research. As mercury acts differently in different systems, emphasis was placed on all systems (water, air, terrestrial environment, and human health). The projects undertaken by the partners are as follows:

CSIR: A few pilot studies, funded by the CSIR and National Research Foundation, were undertaken. The studies form part of a larger project that focuses on:

A mercury inventory for South Africa, and developing scenarios on its emissions;

A national survey of mercury pollution and impacts in South Africa to determine the sources, fate and transport of Hg in South Africa, in air and water resources;

Mapping information obtained in national survey, using large-scale multidisciplinary mapping;

Evaluating the impacts of artisanal gold mining on human health and environmental health; and

Developing and/or identifying appropriate mitigation processes or actions for ameliorating the Hg pollution that has been identified.

A mercury inventory on coal combustion (its sources and emissions to the environment) was established during 2006, and information will be published in the peer reviewed literature during 2008. In order to complete the inventory and to provide updated information to UNEP, this study will be extended during 2007 to include other mercury sources (household appliances, landfill sites, cement factories, waste incinerators, etc).

A pilot study on the fate and transport of mercury in selected South African rivers in the Western Cape (Liesbeek, Black, Eerste/Kuils, Silvermine), and Gauteng and Mpumalanga (Steenskoolspruit, Vaal River) was undertaken. Total mercury and methylmercury analyses were made of all air, water, sediment and biota samples collected, in collaboration with the University of Connecticut, USA. Detailed Hg studies were undertaken in collaboration with University of Connecticut, USA, and as part of MERSA, Norway, during 2007. A historical analysis of mercury in sediment of selected water resources was undertaken during 2006, and will be continued during 2008.

A pilot study on mercury emissions from artisanal gold mining in South Africa was undertaken during 2007. The study focused on the Limpopo/Mpumalanga Provinces, where artisanal gold mining is believed to take place.

Department of Water Affairs and Forestry: Funded by the Department, total mercury in water resources has been measured since 1975, as part of South Africa’s National Monitoring Programme. Monitoring of water resources will continue.

SASOL: Funded internally by SASOL, research has focused on understanding mercury released from coal during the Fischer-Tropsch process; and also focuses on the safe disposal of the elemental mercury that is recovered. Research will continue.

University of Stellenbosch: This group focuses on analytical method development for mercury speciation, with new methods for detecting elemental and inorganic mercury at low levels, being successfully developed. The method has been tested at the Cape Point Global Atmospheric Watch station, as a pilot study. The group is currently developing this method for other mercury species. Capacity is also being developed on a new technique to study the impact of humic acids on mercury and methylmercury bioavailability.

ESKOM: Funded internally by ESKOM, studies focus on the different mercury species emitted during coal combustion processes in electricity generation, since it is likely that species other than oxidized and particulate mercury is released during coal combustion.

The SAMA Programme envisages that in ten years from now, a completed baseline study will provide South Africa with a comprehensive view of mercury measurements in the country. Baseline data will be updated continuously and disseminated throughout a proposed mercury monitoring network.

Contribution from UNEP

Development of Emission Inventories

UNEP with support from the Government of Denmark recently updated the ‘Toolkit for Identification and Quantification of Mercury Releases’ based on initial experiences in using the toolkit. The toolkit is a key information gathering tool available to countries in assessing their national situation.

UNEP has collaborated with the partnership on the development of the UNEP Emissions Report required under Governing Council Decision 24/3 IV, paragraph 24. A final report was delivered to all countries prior to the 25th session of Governing Council. The F&T partnership produced a mercury assessment report [Pirrone, N. and Mason, R. (2009) Mercury Fate and Transport in the Global Atmosphere: Emissions, Measurements and Models. Springer, USA. pp.637 – A report of the UNEP-Global Partnership on Atmospheric Mercury Transport and Fate Research, Geneva] that has feed into the UNEP emissions report as a major contribution. In addition, the partnership, through its chair has participated in a ‘Coordination Group’ responsible for overseeing the process of developing and delivering the 2013 UNEP report, and for the coordination and harmonization as far as possible of the activities under the F&T partnership, AMAP and UN ECE HTAP (see Appendix A).

Contact Person: Gunnar Futsaeter, UNEP Chemicals.

Bulletin board

This Bulletin Board is aimed to provide up-to-date information on the activity of the UNEP-MFTP including annual meetings, workshops, specific contributions provided by each member country,
new countries that joined the partnership and the future steps to be undertaken in the preparation of the
contribution to the next UNEP-Governing Council.

ICMGP 2013
International Conference on Mercury as a Global PollutantJuly 28th to August 2nd
Scotland Edinburgh (UK)Read more…

AD HOC OPEN-ENDED WORKING GROUP ON MERCURY
FIRST MEETING12-16 November 2007
Bangkok, ThailandAgenda

AIR TRANSPORT AND FATE RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP MEETING (UNEP-MFTP)
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY10-11 October 2007
Washington, USAAgenda

24th SESSION OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL
GLOBAL MINISTERIAL ENVIRONMENT FORUM (GC-24/GMEF) (UNEP-MFTP)
ACHIEVING MERCURY USE AND RELEASE REDUCTIONS THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS SIDE EVENT7 February 2007 — Read more